A highly unconventional new instrument, dubbed “The Hot Mess 2025,” has emerged from the creative workshop of Awesomesauceguitars in Morongo Valley, California, and is now capturing the attention of experimental musicians globally on the online marketplace, Reverb. This one-off creation, officially known as the Weirdo 14 String Drone Guitar with 8 Pickups Strat Partscaster, is unapologetically strange, defying nearly every convention of electric guitar design.
Listed for sale at approximately £1,104.05, this experimental noise guitar is anything but subtle, combining the familiar silhouette of a Stratocaster partscaster with a bewildering array of modifications designed to push the boundaries of sound.
The Weirdness: 14 Strings and Eight Pickups
At its core, The Hot Mess begins as a six-string Strat. However, the instrument is built out with numerous sympathetic drone strings, resulting in a total of 14 strings intended to vibrate and accentuate the notes played on the main six.
The most distinctive feature is its massive, complex electronic system: eight individual pickups with over 150 possible settings. According to its creator, the pickups are deliberately not set up to capture a traditional, clean sound.
“The thing that makes it special is that the pickups are not necessarily trying to pickup what you are playing,” the builder writes in the listing. “For a long time while I was working on this guitar I called it ‘the air guitar’ because I wanted the sound of the wind playing the guitar.”
The resulting sound is complex and chaotic, relying on feedback, gain, and sympathetic string vibrations to produce its unique, often drone-like voice.
Logical Chaos: Stereo Outputs and Hidden Controls
Despite its appearance, the builder insists the design is “all very logical.” The guitar features two outputs, meaning half of the strings are routed to one amp and half to the other, enabling a massive stereo separation that makes the guitar sound “awesome” in real life, particularly with headphones.
Hot Mess Controls
To manage the “hot mess,” two crucial controls are included:
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The Red Button: This engages a piezo pickup attached directly to the bridge, ensuring the player can always capture a full read on all 14 strings, regardless of the primary pickup settings.
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The Micro Switch: A tiny switch acts as a “mono switch,” killing the stereo separation and sending all eight pickups to the same output.
Crazy Strat
The maker acknowledges that this unique instrument is an experiment—a departure for those who find a regular Strat simply “doesn’t do it for us anymore.” It is sold as a one-of-a-kind piece with “rough edges and some nicks and scratches,” but the seller guarantees it is “solid as a rock” and comes with a lifetime warranty.
For serious noise musicians, drone enthusiasts, or collectors of truly unique instruments, the Awesomesauceguitars Weirdo 14 String Drone Guitar is currently listed for sale by the builder in Morongo Valley, CA, and promises to be an unforgettable, if eccentric, addition to any arsenal.
More Information
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